A forum for political discourse with a bent to the growing absurdity of it all; to watch and comment on issues in Saskatoon and the performance of elected officials and those who serve them. Easy armchair politics.
"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." - Cyril Connolly

Monday, August 8, 2011

I've got a nose for garbage

It would seem that garbage is going to be the wrap-up focus for this Council. In Saturday's SP (Aug. 6/11) it was reported that a recommendation going to Council was for a 25% increase in the fees for those 2,400 households that signed up and paid for garden waste pick-up. I am one of those households.

I purchased a garden waste bin from the city and paid my annual fee, over and above the taxes I currently pay to cover garbage pick-up. It is all compost material that doesn't end up in a plastic bag in the landfill. Rather than encourage citizens in this direction, we will be penalized with an increased fee. Hardly an incentive to participate in the program.

There was also mention of starting a household waste compost bin to be collected separately but it was unclear as to whether or not there will be an additional fee for this service. If this comes to be I'm not sure what I should do with the composter I also purchased from the city earlier on.

This is over and above the fees I will also pay for recycling pick-up.

Supposedly this would leave little garbage left for the regular bin and thus require a bi-weekly pick-up year round, and I assume extend the life of the landfill and save money.

But what about the cost of having trucks operated by city employees driving around on all these pick-ups?

It also assumes that all citizens are going to be cooperative in sorting their garbage and running a variety of bins to the front street for scheduled pick-ups.

Garden waste pick-up come bi-weekly. The stench that wafts out of that bin when we are nearing pick-up day could knock you out. I can't imagine the odour that will emit from household compost waste.

But I'm already holding my nose from the stench that is seeping from this report.

9 comments:

I cancelled my green bin first thing this morning. The poor city employee couldn't comprehend why I wanted to withdraw from 'such a productive program'.

This Council has lost all it's senses. I was astonished when the announced the potential hiking of fees. For those citizens who went above and beyond what was required to now be penalized is disturbing.

I envision current council will only be happy when every household is playing musical 'bins' trying to determine what colour to roll out to the street on the given day/week.

I will continue to drop my compostable waste at the 11th Street sight, drop my recyclables at Sarcan and my paper/cardboard at Cosmo. The City of Saskatoon should not be in this business! Just means more civic workers, more managers, bigger payroles and more increases in taxes. Budget time, tell each department head reduce your budget by 5%, and hold that line for the next few years if it means less city services, so be it let people start taking care of more of there own issues. I'm still waiting for my individual refuse container so I don't have to deal with full big containers from contractors driving up and down alleys in our area on their way to the dump and unloading in our dumpsters, don't laugh it happens a few times every week!

The people pushing these projects are hellbent on having them installed regardless of the cost or whether the city can afford them.

Why the city won't put all new projects on hold until they get their financial house in order is beyond me, that includes recycling.

What ever happened to the days when City used their budget to determine what programs to fund and new programs to initiate? Now today, Council takes the approach that any new programs (like recycling) should be funded by direct fees to the consumer (adding on to taxes for new programs). This is just more and more tax to people that can barely afford to hang on as is.

Then again the recycling bullies are more concerned with their agenda than actually working to make Saskatoon a better place.

This garbage thing stinks and in more ways than one. There is obviously an ulterior motive to all these changes and it isn't just to make things work better. I is about $$$$$ and it isn't to save the world thats for sure.

"This garbage thing stinks and in more ways than one. There is obviously an ulterior motive to all these changes and it isn't just to make things work better. I is about $$$$$ and it isn't to save the world thats for sure."

The whole focus of the waste reduction strategy is to take that municipal responsibility off of the tax base and turn it into a user fee. That way city administration can use the tax base for other projects while independently funding the recycling/waste disposal operation. The user fees go up and up but aren't tied to property taxes.

Using this strategy, adminstration gets to pick the pockets of residents in another way, so it turns into a revenue grab. Believe me, we'll never see the 'savings' on our property taxes that should appear due to the shifting to user fees.

The ultilities manager is on record as saying that recycling won't show up as offsetting savings to taxpayers on the garbage side. There is no economy of scale involved.

They collected taxes for waste disposal. They are broke from overspending other areas. Need more money. Decide to implement user fees for waste disposal (despite already collecting taxes for it). Remove waste disposal funding from taxes without eliminating the collection of taxes for waste removal. Continue double charging residents for a program they want to slice in half.

The best part of the idiocy is that the proactive and green people (like the Mistress) who, like suckers, purchased the green bins are now seeing their costs sky rocket for no better reason than the city needs more money.

Would it be to logical to ask that City Council with it's great wisdom, stop their empire building and start concentrating on getting their fiscal house in order. I might be mistaken, but isn't garbage pick up part of the city's infrastructure.What are we paying taxes for if it isn't to maintain our infrastructure. So, now let's reduce public transit, reduce garbage pick up, charge more for services, increase parking meter fees so less people will be willing to go downtown, and with the money saved, let's build a new art gallery. The lot of them should be voted out and the city books opened for an audit immediately. This city is a joke!!!!

City council is hell bent on pushing through their own agendas, whether the citizens of Saskatonn agree or not. I have enough problems with mice in the area living in the compost bins and in the front and back yards. I can just imagine the problem with get worst once garbage pickup is reduced and people start using their backyards and alleyways as compost bins. To bad that the natural predators of mice, CATS aren't allowed outside to hunt mice. Maybe city council can give the poor cats a reprieve and let them hunt at night. It's either that or throwing down poison, which we all know is SOOO good for pets as well as wildlife. Or, maybe city council can hire a falconer to hunt mice in the city and cats, who will work for free can still stay in the house. It's not only time for a change but time for a mayor and a city council that is at least "thinking for a change"

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About Me

I am Elaine. I'm a political junkie. I've been on the front line, now I'm on the sideline. I am no longer married to politics, but I'm still its mistress. I know its likes, its dislikes and its dirty little secrets.
I've been a door knocker, organizer, candidate, school board trustee, city councillor, and now a civic mistress.
Great moments in my career:
*after 12 years on the Saskatoon Public School Board, left with a touch of sanity;
*three times elected chair (and so far the first and only female holding that office);
*helped prevent the building a mega million dollar white elephant for central office and in lieu re-adapted a beautiful historic building in downtown Saskatoon.
Political Philosophy: Hey, those are my tax dollars your spending.